Whether reading literature or an academic essay, there are obvious steps you must take in order to maximize your reading understanding and experience. First, examine the title. This will give you an idea of what's inside or a general tone or preference of the author. While talking about the author, it is very important to try and find anything you can about the author; background, special training, previous works, any special ideas or opinions. Knowing about the author will give you an idea into how the author writes and what you can expect as you begin to read. However, before you begin to read, you must try to find out where and when the work was published. Location of the publishing will help you identify the credentials; a work published in a respected journal will probably have much more authenticity and factual information than something published in a weekly tabloid. Date of publishing will help you know what tone the author may take on and also if the information is outdated or not.
After completing all of that, reading the piece is the next step. After reading, it's time to think critically. Analyze different parts of the writing to look for the main idea the author is trying to illustrate. You can now draw conclusions based upon what you have read and discovering the writer's assumptions. This allows you to link the ideas into a cohesive whole, allowing for full understanding. Evaluate your ideas and work them back into the writing, seeing if they make sense and are logical and factual. You may also want to look for a meaning behind the piece, the big picture the author is trying to get you to see. This is the big step because it gives you an abstract sense or feeling the author has intended you to feel. These are all steps of understanding your literature better, reading strategies that will facilitate your experience and help you reach literal conclusions much easier.
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